Technology of Hunter Valley microlith assemblages, New South Wales

Abstract

This study was prepared as part of a lithic analysis for an archaeological testing project undertaken by the Australian Museum Business Services in 1996 at three Aboriginal sites encountered on Bettys Creek, near Singleton in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. The goal of the analysis was to determine the place of the Bettys Creek assemblage within Hunter Valley lithic technology, thereby providing information relevant to evaluating the significance of the Bettys Creek sites. <br/> The analytical approach of the Bettys Creek analysis involved applying a 'technological typology' to the lithic assemblages. In this approach, flakes are classified into types based on the knapping techniques which produced them (Andrefsky 1998: 118-122; Shott 1994). Formed objects-artefacts from which flakes have been removed-are examined scar-by-scar to determine the sequence and strategy of stone reduction (Andrefsky 1998: 136-188; Moore 1992). The results of the flake and formed tool studies are correlated through knapping experiments and artefact conjoining. A stage-based reduction model, often in the form of a flow chart, is used to structure the results. The intent is to develop a detailed model of the way in which stone was manipulated at a site or in a region.